-Hunter-

[The Tsumi Clan’s “special task force,” that specializes

in “hunting” criminals, necromancers, and other targets]

Oroske and I returned outside, the sun practically blinding me at first from its current position in the midday sky. “Ah man, it’s already this late?” Oroske spoke, guarding his eyes with his hands as he looked up at the sky, “Well, let’s get home, I’ll make us something to eat.” We started walking back through the same way we came and when we got out of the central plaza, which was far more empty than it was in the morning, he began speaking again. “May as well chat on our way, yeah? Any questions or things you’re curious about?”

One question quickly sprung to my mind, “I noticed some people were wearing a few different colors for their shirts and jackets. Is there a reason for that?”

“Ahh that,” he seemed amused by the question, “that’s a good question! There is a reason actually. You may have noticed there are four colors, all of which correspond to the four ranks of Hunters. We call them the Cloak colors, though in the past few years the ‘cloak’ part has become less important, hence the shirts and jackets. Though in the past, they were thick and heavy, but would keep you protected in any weather.

“The one you’re wearing is pretty traditional, and is the first rank,” he gestured to the cloak I was wearing, “we call it the navy cloak, though the actual shade of blue doesn’t really matter. It indicates the Hunter wearing it as an apprentice, or a novice. Navy cloak Hunters are still learning the ropes and must be accompanied by their mentor when going on Hunts.

“The next rank up, our intermediate Hunters, are the black cloaks. Their by far the most common rank to see, and really the experience levels vary greatly, from just barely graduated from being a navy cloak, all the way up to people who’ve been around since I was a kid.

“My group is the white cloaks. Becoming a white cloak is a much longer process, and much more specific than becoming a black cloak. You have to train someone from before they’re even a navy cloak, all the way up until they get their black cloak. On top of that, there’s some extra testing and all that fun stuff.”

“So you’ve trained someone before me?”

“Oh yeah,” Oroske said, seemingly pondering the past for a minute, “I believe you’re the fourth person I’ve trained.”

“How long ago was the first person you trained?”

“Ohh… How old are you now?”

“Uhh,” I thought about it for a minute before realizing, “I don’t remember?”

“Right… right. I think you’re 14, so if I remember right… 25-ish years? You’d met them before you died, but they’re not around much. I’ll have to introduce you sometime. “

By this point we had been standing in front of his house for a few minutes. I was beginning to regret asking him.

“They’re actually part of the last group, which is a little special. Rel, the tall guy you saw talking to Danfis earlier, is one of them. They’re the red cloaks. They’re a very tight-knit circle, with no specific entry criteria. The only way to get a red cloak is for Danfis himself to give you one, and it’s a mark of you being in his inner circle, and one of his most trusted Hunters. Most of the time they are either helping him run the Clan, specifically the business side of things, or taking on special Hunts, many of which can take upwards of a year to complete, and all of which are top secret.”

We finally moved into the house, escaping the heat and blinding sun. Once inside, I asked him to elaborate on the different designs and types of cloak that are available.

“Ah right,” he began, walking straight forward towards the kitchen, beckoning me to follow, “The designers who make and design our cloaks will take just about any type of request. Out of those you’ve met, Rel asked for his design to incorporate the meanings of his name, as well as his parents’ names, and is quite fancy. Whereas you, Danfis, and I all kept our designs plain and simple.”

He also explained that they’re pretty strict about the accent colors, navy and black cloaks can only have white, while white and red cloaks can only have black. Supposedly, the only exception is Danfis, who can pick any combination of colors. “The previous Danfis actually had a few different colors, with some very complex designs. You should ask the current one to show you his old cloak if you ever get the chance, it’s really neat to see!” He added with a silly grin on his face, as he looked through the refrigerator.

He pulled out some packaged meat, which he began slicing, only to stop after cutting off a few pieces. “Any objections to sandwiches with some lunch meat?” he asked, turning to look at me. I shook my head, the meat smelled good so I was pretty sure I’d like it.

He nodded and went back to slicing, “There are also some other varieties of cloaks, as you saw earlier. In the beginning, at least, you had no objections to just having the traditional style cloak, with the chainmail lining and everything. If you ever decide you want to get some of the more modern, comfortable styles, such as light jackets and all that, let me know and we can get some commissioned for you.”

He grabbed some bread and made a couple sandwiches, then filled a couple cups with water before coming over to the table. He set one of each down in front of me, before sitting down himself. I hadn’t sat down yet, and was just standing there so I followed his lead. We then ate in relative silence, a nice break from all the exposition. The sandwich was tasty, but a little plain, seeing as it was just some ham between bread.

We finished pretty quickly, which I predicted meant he’d continue to talk my ear off. “Ahh, that was a nice little top-off,” he said while rolling his neck in his hand, “now then, enough about cloaks and the clan and stuff. Let’s get started training you properly.”

He stood up and stretched, before opening the sliding door that went outside to the back side of the house. “Let’s see,” he started, looking out into the backyard, “let’s start with some basic magic training. Oh, and feel free to leave your cloak inside, don’t need it since we aren’t doing anything business related.”

I took off my cloak and followed him out, once again getting blinded by the sun as my eyes readjusted to the light. The backyard was spacious, and mostly dirt. Some weeds were left growing around the edges of the yard, but for the most part it seemed pretty well kept.

Oroske was standing a little past the middle of the dirt patch, with a sword drawn that he promptly stuck in the ground. “Welcome to Magic 101, today I’ll teach you the basics of aether manipulation and how to cast spells,” he started, placing his hands on the pommel of the sword, one on top of the other.

“Magic is the term used for the manipulation of aether to achieve certain effects, such as…” he began explaining, lifting his top hand, and turning his palm upwards. Then suddenly, a flame erupted in his hand, “creating a ball of flame, or...” He brought his other hand next to it, which water then seemed to flow out from his skin, and it doused the fire in the opposing hand, “creating flows of water from seemingly nothing.”

He shook his hand, as though dismissing the water, and placed them both back on the sword. “There are many other forms and uses for magic, and is essentially the lifeblood of the modern world, being used for stuff like refrigerators, or aethermobiles. For us however, it is mainly used to assist us in combat. For example…”

He lifted the sword out of the dirt, and passed his left hand over the blade, moving from the hilt to the tip. As he moved his hand, flames appeared around the blade. Despite the metal blade not being flammable, the flames continued to burn. He passed his hand through again in the opposite direction. This time, sparks of electricity bounced around the blade, mingling with the flame.

Suddenly, a burst of wind came from his direction, strong enough to push me back a little. As suddenly as it came, it went back towards him. At his feet, a blue-ish green glow appeared and you could see the wind gathering at his feet. He suddenly jumped up into the sky, the wind blasting towards my face and all around where he was standing.

I looked up to see him still rising. At the height of the jump, he seemed to float for a minute, when he threw the sword down at the ground with tremendous force. Upon impact, the electricity and fire burst around the sword, kicking up the dirt all around the yard.

When he landed, the earth kicked up around him, forming a wall of solid earth, high enough that I couldn’t see him. “That’s just a taste of what you can do!” I heard his voice shout from behind the wall, shortly before it crumbled away. He stepped out from the dust cloud he created, a smile plastered on his face.

I was dumbfounded. I had no idea what to say. “How…” I stammered out, “Did you do any of that.”

Oroske laughed, “I’m not the best teacher for magic, but I can teach you the basics, then from there we’ll find someone to teach you more advanced stuff. Or you can learn some of it on your own.”

By then the dust had mostly cleared up and he beckoned me towards him. “Come on, let’s begin!”

I met him in the middle and he instructed me to lift my hands, palms facing towards the sky. “Now, the first thing you’ll need to know,” he began, “is that unlike the red energy used in Energy Manipulation, the Aetherial Energy used in Magic is invisible to the naked eye.”

So it’s more of a feeling he added.

I think I understood. “Close your eyes, and feel the energy in the air, drawing it towards your hands.”

Focus, he said once I had my eyes closed for a few seconds. “The feeling you’re looking for is like putting your hands into a bucket of warm water.”

Sure enough, I felt the sensation he described. It must have shown on my face, because my next instructions came quickly. “Now, bring the energy into your body, and give it a command.”

Mimicking what he had shown me, I commanded it to burst into flames in the palm of my hand. I felt an intense heat in the palm of my hand, and heard Oroske cheering. I opened my eyes to see that I had succeeded, and had a small flame dancing on my palm. He instructed me on how to dismiss the flame, and sat down, telling me to do the same.

“I hope this isn’t too boring for you, just learning about a bunch of facts about magic. But sadly, you need these fundamentals in order to advance your usage of magic.”

He explained… well, a lot.

First, he explained the concept of the different Elements. Fire, flame, since apparently there’s some difference between the two, water, ice, stone, life, wind, electric, and said there’s a couple more, but they’re pretty advanced.

Then he explained the concept of Aspects. “I’m not really sure how to explain these honestly, they’re pretty complicated,” he began. From what he told me, I was able to understand that Aspects cover any type of magic outside of the elements. An example he gave for them was the aspect of Jarou, which normally translates to stone. However, when referring to Aspects, it uses the full translation, “strength of stone.” So the Aspect usually gets used to reinforce your physical strength and constitution, allowing you to hit harder, and take more hits. “It’s all very complicated how it works, and I’ve never bothered studying the more advanced parts of magic,” he concluded.

Finally he touched on Affinities. “Basically, when your soul comes into existence,” which he dismissed as a whole other subject for another time, “it is assigned it’s Affinities. You have an Elemental Affinity, and Aspect Affinity.” All affinities really mean is the Elements and Aspects you have an affinity for are easier to use, and are usually much stronger than the other ones. Apparently in the past, before magic research had advanced, they were the only magic you could use.

“And that’s pretty much the basics,” He said, looking towards the now setting sun. “It’s gotten pretty late, what say we go in for dinner?” I nodded and followed him inside. He cooked up some burgers, which we ate while discussing the plans for the next couple days.

“Tomorrow, we’ll get more into the application of magic, and some physical combat training,” he stated plainly, “Though really, that’ll be pretty much the plan for the next few weeks so we can get you in shape to go out on Hunts.”

I showed I was in agreement, and asked “What happens after that?”

“Ah right, well you’ll have an exam of sorts, in which you’ll spar against a Hunter to show your skill with a sword and magic, and then take a test on your knowledge. Pass the exam, and we’ll start going out on Hunts again, getting you field experience.”

We finished up our food, and while he cleaned up the dishes he continued, “I’ll bring in some other Hunters to help with your training starting tomorrow. But for now, try to get some rest, we’ll start early tomorrow.”

I helped him clean up, and we went up stairs, splitting off at the door to my room. We bid each other “good night” and I crawled into my bed. I hadn’t done much in terms of physical activity, but I still felt exhausted. I fell into another dreamless sleep rather quickly.